Corpus Christi

Sunday June 2nd, as part of the year of Faith, the Pope has called for a world wide holy hour, inviting every Catholic in the world to come together to worship Christ, at the exact same time, as part of our celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi.

Let that sink in.

Every Catholic.  Across the world.  Worshipping Christ in the Eucharist.  At the same time.  Will everyone be willing or able to come?  Probably not.  But imagine it.  Imagine the whole Church united in prayer.

This is basically a chance for the entire Body to worship together, something that happens Sacramentally in every Mass, but rarely in any other way.  This will be, quite literally, Heaven on Earth.  And it will be an opportunity for visible catholicism, visible universality, visible wholeness in worship, for a world that doesn't understand the Sacraments.  Let it marvel at our love.

Here in the Eastern United States our hour is 11am, so 11am Masses will likely be your starting point.  Obviously the times will vary across the country and the world, so find out when yours is, and come join me and a few million others.  I know my parish is also planning a Eucharistic procession and adoration afterwards, to continue our time with Jesus.  I invite anyone in the area to come join us, Catholic or not.  Let's get the whole Body praying together.  Message me for further details.

Priests

Do not fear the ministerial priesthood because of the failings of men.  The Church is not a museum of Saints but a hospital for sinners - and even doctors and nurses get sick sometimes.  The solution is not to get rid of doctors and nurses, but to retain doctors and nurses so that even when some grow ill, there are still others who can treat them.  Remember: every priest needs other priests.  Even the Pope confesses.  Even the Pope has a spiritual director.  

Beautiful

God does not love us because we are beautiful.  He loves us, and so has made us beautiful.

The Gospel

The Gospel is not principally words, the Gospel is principally a person - Jesus the Christ.  Evangelism then is not a thing we do via words, but a thing we do with our whole person through conforming to Jesus Christ.

Padre Pio

For all my fellow St. Padre Pio fans, think about which is the greater miracle: that the man could say, "I know your sins," or that he could say, "your sins are forgiven."  I get as excited as anyone about all the awesome gifts given to the Saints, but we should be vastly more excited about the ordinary means of Grace given to every single one of us, every day.

The Fifth Wound

Lately I have been thinking about the wounds of Christ - particularly the wound in His side, which pierced His heart.  This wound stands out because it is the only wound inflicted upon Him after His death.  It stands out because every other wound of the Passion corresponds to the suffering for our sins, the bearing of a burden we could not take up, and the hurt we have done to our relationship with God from the Fall onwards.  What of the only wound that pierced His heart?  What of the only wound that wasn't for our past sins?  What of the only wound received after He said "it is consummated?"  I think this wound does correspond to an action on our parts, a sin which could only come about after Christ had come into the world, not before.  Every other wound matched and defeated our human sins.  This wound is for our divine sin.  What divine sin?  That we Christians as Christians, the Body of Christ, have lived divided from each other.  In our pride, we have sundered and separated that which should be whole, that for which the Apostle Paul begged unity.  Our schisms and our fights, our ongoing fracture, this is the wound in the heart of Christ.  But it is from this wound that pours forth the healing water and the Precious Blood.  It is from this wound that the Divine Mercy gushes forth as the fountain of life.  When we learn to love with this love, surrendering our pride and our sin, then we will be whole again.  His wounds conquer all sin.  Take courage, He has conqued the world.  All we must do is love one another as He has loved us.